Re: schools banning homework

morrisjcroy@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Most folks' GPAs drop from high school to college or university.

Try explaining that to my students. I got a lot of "I was a genius in high
school and I had good marks until I started your course" or some such
caterwauling.


Most eventually figure it out. The ones who don't, will eventually
figure it out via the school of hard knocks once they've been knocked
around and screwed over several times in the real world outside of the
ivory tower.

Or they decided to do something different.

I often felt pressured not to say anything negative about the real world. If I did, I might, apparently, discourage the students from learning the material, who might then drop out and do something else. If that happened, it might be damaging to the administration's reputation, thus depriving it of potential revenues.

It wouldn't surprise me that it would have preferred to have the students finish, find out that the real world wasn't what it was cracked up to be and then return to school for retraining, bringing with them money.



I've encountered a few weirdos at the Mensa gatherings I've attended.

I couldn't figure out what these particular folks' definition of
"strange" was. If I had to guess, maybe they thought my interests
were too "esoteric" for them and/or my interests didn't coincide with
any of their interests.

That could be likely. By weirdos, I meant genuine eccentrics.


Folks like George Trepal? (Some Mensa guy who's on death row in
Florida).

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1535601/bio
http://www.amazon.com/Poison-Mind-Jeffrey-Good/dp/0312960166

Nobody that extreme that I'm aware of. There was one chap who was brilliant but who couldn't seem to find a job that suited him. The last I heard, he was homeless somewhere in Ontario.

<snip>

As the saying goes, ve get too soon olt und too late schmart.


It seems to be the case that most folks are overconfident of their own
abilities, and underestimate the obstacles. Most like to think that
they can beat the odds over everyone else. Most folks usually change
their minds after they've been beaten down several times and see
things for what they really are.

Sadly, the educational system encourages that sort of thinking but has nothing to offer someone who falls flat on one's face.

<snip>
.

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